American Hustle (2013)

American Hustle Synopsis

A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell’s previous films, American Hustle defies genre, hinging on raw emotion, and life and death stakes.

American Sniper is Bradley Cooper’s third straight Best Actor nomination, following nods for his two films with director David O. Russell. But where does it rank on a list of the all-time great Bradley Cooper roles?

It’s finally here! The most distinguished, important and prestigious award show of the entire year has finally arrived! It’s the MTV Movie Awards, and they boast enough clout to break careers and ruin lives.

You’d think Disney might have exhausted the fairytale canon for princess stories at this point, but with Frozen, the famous animation company has pulled together a zinger of a story with plenty of emotional payoff, helped along by a story from Hans Christian Anderson and artwork by Kay Nielson.

And because the MTV Movie Awards are a show for the people, the smash-comedy hit We’re the Millers racked up 6 nominations, including Best Shirtless Performance for Jennifer Aniston. Who says this isn’t the Golden Age of Cinema?

I left my showing of American Hustle with a smile on my face and a healthy appreciation for what I’d just seen. I knew, without a doubt, it would go on my yearly Top 10 Movies list. The where was the only question. I initially assumed it would end up about seventh or eighth, but when I sat down to actually make the list, it kept getting bumped up and bumped up

The film has yet to open in several international territories, so $250 million globally is certainly in play. That being said, what effect will this have on the Best Picture race? Hustle is actually not the highest grossing Best Picture nominee. That honor goes to the behemoth Gravity, which was a monster hit, bringing in $698 million worldwide in 3D receipts.

With ten Oscar nominations and plenty of support from members of the Academy, it’s very possible March 2 will prove to be a wonderful evening for American Hustle. There are few joys like celebrating a Best Picture victory, or at least so I’ve been told, but regardless of whether the film wins or not, the larger month should be a great one because that’s when the film is finally going to be available for purchase.

My argument is that the category should have shifted from five nominees to three. That would increase competition. Imagine how tight this year’s Oscar race would be if Academy voters could only choose between Gravity, 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle? Now THAT’s a race!

We recently learned that the costume designers on David O. Russell’s Oscar-nominated American Hustle constructed four different versions of Lawrence’s curve-hugging – which the actress usually coated with Dorito cheese dust. Wipe your fingertips on your shirt and get a load of this quote from Oscar-nominated costume designer Michael Wilkinson.

Hailing from such buzzed about films a Blue Jasmine, American Hustle, Nebraska, August: Osage County and 12 Years a Slave, each of these actresses has earned plenty of ink over the last few months. But only one will win on Oscar night. Whose in it to win it and who will have to say, "Just getting the nomination is such an honor?" Allow me to break it down.

Every year, the Academy Awards and its voters honor screenwriters old and new by handing out the statue for the Best Original Screenplay, often while employing a lackluster script of its own. While it remains to be seen what kind of material host Ellen DeGeneres will be given, you can bet than the stage direction “This is the part where you dance” will show up more than a few times. Probably in between jokes about Christian Bale’s gut, or his beard, or his hair.

Today we feature Best Supporting Actor. This is a thornier pack than last year, when all the nominees were previous winners, limiting the amount of actual competition between participants (Christoph Waltz ultimately won). This year there are no previous winners, three first-time nominees, and two second-time honorees.

Every time a film seems poised to grab the mantle of “Frontrunner” in this year’s Oscar race, something happens to shift focus, change the current and disrupt the tea leaves that tend to guide the annual Oscar race.

The Screen Actors Guild held their annual award ceremony this evening, and long story short, the voting members really didn’t favor one specific film. In fact, the only movie that took home multiple awards was Dallas Buyers Club. Both lead and supporting actors Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto were honored by their peers, though that love didn’t carry over to the overall film honors, which went to American Hustle.

Funny enough, one person who is stepping forward to cry foul on this reality-based feature wasn't a conman, congressman or a CIA agent. He's a journalist who feels the movie hurts his reputation with one throwaway line.

Russell was making a joke. A bad one, when you consider – especially – that he’s running the current Oscar marathon alongside a harrowing depiction of actual slavery in Steve McQueen’s masterful 12 Years a Slave.

The Golden Globes announced their winners on Sunday, revealing the biases and beliefs of the ninety-something member Hollywood Foreign Press. As much as they get mocked for their ability to be bought and paid for, the Globes often look like a solid predictor for how the Oscars will fare.

Remarkably, there the willfully schlubby funnyman pulled focus from scene partner Bradley Cooper with a curious ice fishing story that never saw resolution. But on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, C.K. finally finished the tale.

In the narrative categories, few of these nominees can be called surprising as just about all of the above have received critical praise and Oscar buzz. The dark horse contender in the mix is Peter Berg's Lone Survivor, which has had a soft open over Christmas and will expand next week.

42, at its core, is the story of Jackie Robinson—how he broke the color barrier and how dominated the National League during his first season, but in many ways, it’s also the story of the Dodgers and how men of different backgrounds came together to create something beautiful that still means so much to so many people.

I'll be recapping the highs and lows of the movie business experienced over the past 12 months. 2013 has been a pretty fascinating time for film, full of reversals of fortune, dizzying successes and even some truly polarizing pictures. So let's look back and GIF out!

I turned the topic to one of my personal favorites from Adams' filmography, Drop Dead Gorgeous. Much to my surprise (and delight), Adams indulged me and even came up with a pretty fascinating link that ties her Drop Dead Gorgeous character Leslie Miller to the sultry schemer Sydney.

Nominations for the SAG Awards never match nominations for the Academy Awards completely, but there is usually quite a bit of overlap. Last year, for example, both of the male categories matched 4/5. So, while the average person might not even watch the ceremony when it’s aired on TNT and TBS in January, if they’re into the Oscars at all, they should take a long hard look at the nominees that were released this morning

Normally, we’d have to wait until a DVD reached shelves before we could absorb a feature-length interview from a director providing insight into his latest work. Which makes this 80-minute conversation between American Hustle director David O. Russell and the WGA feel extra special.

The American Film Institute tends to play a little more fast and loose with its annual end of the year best movies list when compared against other organizations. Usually, there’s at least one selection odd enough to cause a double take. Last year, for example, more than a few heads were turned by the surprising selection of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

We got to thinking about the roles that required Bale to alter his appearance. Sometimes it’s a hairstyle. Sometimes it’s a lack of hygiene. Often it has to do with his body build, either bulking up to fight crime, or slimming down to deal with the consequences of his action.

Huge week happening here this time around. No time to waste with droll/genius/thought-provoking banter here in the opening. Way too much heading into theaters. We’ve got Hobbits-ies, Mary Poppins, Americans hustling and Madea celebrating Christmas.

Several more groups are expected to weigh in before year’s end, including groups in Los Angeles (and every other major U.S. city), online groups, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. It’s borderline exhausting … in a good way, right?

The holiday season is officially upon us, observed less through Christmas decorations and cold weather and more by the onslaught of Oscar fare hitting theaters this month. December is always a truly great time for both quality dramas and big bombastic comedies, and this year won’t be bucking that trend.

Nowadays, we all know you're not supposed to put metal in the microwave. I mean, unless you want it to erupt into a sputtering ball of flames. (No judgment.) But back in the 1970s, the countertop microwave was a still newfangled kitchen accessory that's finer points were lost on some. Or at least this is the case for glamorous housewife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), the Jersey bride of con artist Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) in David O. Russell's American Hustle.

As great as Jennifer Lawrence's performance was in Silver Linings Playbook, I kind of thought Bradley Cooper was robbed in not winning his own Academy Award for his lead role in the film. Looking at the trailer for American Hustle, it seems both actors are bringing their Oscar-worthy talent back to the big screen for another David O. Russell movie.

Hustle actually tells of an elaborate sting operation launched by the FBI. It used criminals and con artists in a scheme to trap corrupt politicians. And to everyone’s surprise, the line of dirty thieving politicians stretched all the way up to Congress. That statement was shocking in the 1970s and early ‘80s, when the ABSCAM scandal rocked the Philadelphia area.

First up we have a still from this December's trip back to Middle-earth. As is suggested by the image, the race of Elves will be playing a much more important role in the second part of The Hobbit trilogy and will feature both some new and old faces.

This fall will apparently be the time to see very famous people doing very bad, very corrupt things while looking very attractive while they do it. We've still barely recovered from the crazy Wolf of Wall Street trailer, and now here comes the first trailer for American Hustle, the next film from The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell.

After Disney's big presentation this morning, which featured an extended look at The Lone Ranger and the first screening of Monsters University, it was Sony's turn this evening to show off their upcoming slate, which showed a good deal of material from just about every movie that the studio has coming out in 2013.

We've known from the project's earliest stages that the title American Bullshit was never going to fly, and so David O. Russell’s ABSCAM drama now is going with the more marketable title American Hustle.

Jack Huston, who stars as World War I vet Richard Harrow on the hit HBO gangster series, is the latest actor to sign up for a role in the upcoming drama. Based on true events, the new movie tells the story of how a con artist and his partner were forced to work with the FBI...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is just like everybody else, and its jubilance for most things is guided by the last thing its collective brain can remember. As such, the end of the year is usually when studios stampede their Oscar bait out in limited releases. David O. Russell probably doesn’t need that kind of insurance, but nobody is taking anything for granted these days

David O. Russell had a bad reputation for working with actors thanks to on-set brush-ups with George Clooney (on Three Kings) and Lily Tomlin (on I Heart Huckabees). But he appears to have mellowed severely over the years, and now his cast members often return for the director’s follow-up gigs. Mark Wahlberg has been in multiple Russell films, from Kings to The Fighter.